What happened to the running game?

I heard a rumor that the material on my site was solid, but that I did not post enough. Well here I am and I am announcing my intent to expose everything in my mind regarding college football and any questions you may have for THE Wing Expert.

Here is my recap from the Saturday of college football.

I tweeted out Friday night that I did not want to spend my Saturday night at a bar with someone else holding the remote this week. I missed most of the Alabama game last week as I was dragged to a nearby watering hole and was stuck watching Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Texas. The LSU-Auburn game was on across the room and it was a nice little SEC matchup, but the Fighting Tigers were running away with it early.

This Saturday was much different, and here are my thoughts and visions regarding a great day of football.
West Virginia came out and upset Oklahoma State to kick the day off. OSU is now 0-2 in Morgantown, with the first loss coming in 1928, but the Mountaineers came out and ran around the field. This is not the same WVU team that it’s been recently with the eclectic scoring, it’s a swarming defense and a useful offense. Either way, a Pokes loss is a great start.

Next up was the LSU-Georgia game and I was pretty confident going into the matchup, being a Fighting Tiger fan. LSU has opened its offense up this year and Zach Mettenberger has been solid. Mettenberger did not disappoint today, throwing for 370 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. The former Bulldog really showed up well in Athens and he needed to, since the Tigers managed only 13 rushing yards in the first half. However on the other sideline, Georgia possesses a great quarterback of its own. Aaron Murray is slowly starting hush all the critics that say he can’t win the big games. Georgia has faced three opponents ranked in the top-10 and Murray has thrown for an average of 343 yards and 2 touchdowns per game, throwing for four scores against both South Carolina and LSU. But it was the defense that made the difference in this matchup. LSU’s defense could not make the big play and the big stop in the end and the Bulldogs’ defense did.

You know I did not miss this week’s Alabama game as they were hosting up-and-coming Ole Miss, who are a much better team this year than last. I watched last year’s Bama-Mississippi game last year in Branson, Miss., as I was on a golf trip with my father (I’ll unfortunately miss the Arkansas game, since I’ll be golfing in Houston).

The game started like last years, with Ole Miss’ defense holding strong and making the Tide work for everything. Bama took a 9-0 lead at the half and turned up the scoring in the second. A.J. McCarron had another solid game for Alabama, despite not scoring a touchdown, but it was the defense that really stood out. Bo Wallace and some of the other Rebel players had been running their mouths all week and dismissing the Tide defense, but C.J. Mosley, Ha Ha Clinton Dix and Vinnie Sunseri had everybody in the right place and freshman corner Eddie Jackson shined in his first career start, shutting down his side of the field. Roll Tide!

Texas A&M held on to beat the surprising Razorbacks, who are getting back to running the football. Alex Collins is a stud in that backfield and will be really good in the upcoming years. Mike Leach has Washington State throwing the ball all over the place, but Stanford is a good team.

I’m currently watching USC play Arizona State and if the Trojans were not turning the ball over left and right, they would be much better off. It’s nice to see Lane Kiffin get a solid running game going, I think teams are forgetting about the importance of just running the ball. With all this spread offense, coaches are looking for 8-10 yard gains each play. I’m a fan of running the ball to set up the pass. USC needs to establish a running game, it has the players to do this.

Speaking of USC, I spoke about the hot seats that the Trojans, Gators and Longhorns are on and they’ve started to settle down. The key for all three teams is to RUN THE FOOTBALL! USC is doing that as I speak, Florida rushed for 246 yards against Kentucky, and Texas has Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray. Run the ball guys.

On a side note, Oklahoma defeated Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The Sooners have beaten the Irish twice now. Marqise Lee is also the all-time leader in receiving yards at USC. Congrats Sooners and Marqise Lee.

What’s so special about the letter “m?”

Are the SEC defenses losing it, or are the offenses just that good?

Who is the best conference in college football?

I’ll be checking back in this week, providing some stories that have been weighing on my mind the last couple of weeks.

Until then be careful and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Wing Man out!

College Football reaction and preview

We are coming up on the third weekend with college football and what a glorious start it has been to the season. I truly forget every year how much I miss football, thinking that hockey and baseball will be able to tie my over, but oh how much more fun Saturdays and Sundays become when there is pigskin being tossed around on the television.
I gave my previews in the last post and am here to hit on some quick hits for my loyal readers.

Alabama takes on Texas A&M this weekend in College Station, the first meeting since the Aggies marched into Tuscaloosa and beat the Crimson Tide for their only loss last year. Johnny Manziel has the traveling circus with him, while Alabama brings a business-like approach, as Nick Saban wants it, to this “rematch.” I’ve heard Kyle Field is something special and plan to visit one day, but on September 14th, I’ll be parked in a chair in front of a TV screaming my lungs out and my face off…. Roll Tide.

I’ll move from some current dominant college football teams to some that seem to be falling, fast.

Texas suffered its first loss of the season, falling to BYU on the road, 40-21. But it’s not necessarily that they lost to BYU that’s disturbing, it’s the fact that the Longhorns, who was the last team not from the SEC to win a BCS Championship, gave up 550 rushing yards, the most Texas has given up all time. Bevo’s bunch has seen some special players in its history, Billy Sims, Marcus Dupree and Adrian Peterson, but Taysom Hill is the man that gashed the horns for the Cougars.

Southern California, also known as USC, lost to Washington State for the first time since 2002. This could be something interesting except this is the same Cougars team that lost nine games last season and their opener against Auburn in the first week. But the biggest bother with this is the fact that the Trojans scored only seven points in the 10-7 loss. USC gained only 193 yards of offense, 54 yards through the air. Seven Heisman trophy awards have been awarded to USC players, two of which were quarterbacks.

These two programs faced off in the 2005 National Championship and besides Texas’ trip to the 2009 BCS Championship, they’ve been irrelevant. I think it’s time for Mack Brown to assume a position in the Athletic Department and for Lane Kiffin to pack his things from his “dream job.” Florida is in the hot seat and about to join these programs.
If you’re looking for something to watch before Saturday, Texas Tech and TCU play on ESPN Thursday night, which is primed to be a close game with back and forth scoring. I like TCU to edge the Red Raiders, as long as its defense can slow down the Kliff Kingsbury offense. It’ll be a good game, too bad I’m covering a high school football game in south Dallas.

Expect something soon on the NFL and focusing around fantasy football, which my teams each won in Week 1. Also in the works is a podcast which will post here on the site.

As always you can email me questions at thewingexpert@gmail.com or follow me on twitter for witty tweets @thewingexpert.

Wing Man out!